Weekends are made for fun, unless...
well, unless you're a homeowner....
So, it’s the weekend. You like to plan these things out. I’ve had something on my mind to do for quite a while but as the weekend got closer, I had options.
My wife was headed to her cousins, with her mom, to see a high school play whose lead had this incredible singer/actress named Belle, who just so happens to be the daughter of said cousin. (Coincidence, no.) I could have gone with them, but no.
My second option: I found out that several other wise old gentlemen were going to be there to watch the Masters golf tournament, hold down the couch and consume small quantities of a wide variety of IPA’s.
Did I choose that option for my weekend plans (even though I wasn’t officially invited)? if I showed up, I wouldn’t be kicked out (I hope).
No, why would I choose something fun? That’s just crazy. I decided to stay home, even taking half day off Friday to move every piece of furniture, rug, chair, articles of clothes, dust bunnies, desks, etc. from all three bedrooms down the stairs into the living room.
Why would one do that, you ask? My plan was to clean all the floors of water stains, paint blotches, and warn patches from fifteen years of wear and tear. Once done, I planned to coat all the hardwood floors with several clear coats of polyurethane from our local hardware store.
Why, when such other awesome options were available, did I choose this one? It’s either one, I’m a homeowner who prides himself on making his home look wonderful and retain it’s ever-increasing property value. Or two, I’m a loser who instead of enjoying a relaxing weekend, likes to get down on his hands and knees to cut in all the trim work (so the polyurethane does not cover the nice white paint trim) and making him barely able to walk the next day.
Anyway, while the house is empty (Kate’s at college and Thomas is out bowling with friends), I spent the day giving a luxurious shine to our upstairs bedrooms.
Before I began, we had several issues. As we allowed our daughter to paint her room four to five times when she was little, there was a wide variety of paint splotches covering her floor. If I was to put a clear coat over them, I would first need to clean it up. Visiting our local hardware store for advice, I bought several spray products including Goof-Off, Krud-Kutter and Goo-Gone. They didn’t really work well. I was able to scrap some off with a putty knife but frustrated, I headed back to the store for more product. They steered me to Goo-Gone for Paint Splatter. This works. It also took the shine off but I knew the clear coat would bring it back.
Issue number 2, we had put down a rubber mat under one of our bedroom rugs and after lifting it, noticed all sorts of little black bubble markings that would not come off. They weren’t terrible but most definitely noticeable. If I’m going to clear coat the floors, I’d like them to disappear. So, I used all varieties of the above products to try to eliminate those spots and nothing happens. Actually, something did happen, the floor got super sticky. In fact, your feet would stick to it when you walked on it. It would have been better if I left it alone. What’s an old goof to do?
Paula was leaving the next morning. I wanted it done and looking beautiful upon her return as who doesn’t love it when your wife says, “What a wonderful job you did!”? Before she went to bed, she said, “Maybe you can try sanding it to get the bubbles off?”
For just another of the dozens of reasons I married her, she was right on this. I tried a little area and most of the stickiness and some of the bubbles came off. I kept at it for a while. I sprayed some hardwood floor cleaner on it and it was no longer sticky. I was quite happy now.
I spent a good part of the morning on my hands and knees cutting in. Once that was done, I used a roller and stick. The process was pretty easy. I put on a coat, stepped back to admire it, and then headed to the gym for a light run to stretch out the old, tired legs.
Returning home the floor was dry so, I applied another coat. It looks really good for someone with not much experience. I’m glad I did it and even happier that it’s done.
As a homeowner, you’re not always thrilled to spend a weekend doing this but once done, you know it’s worth it. I won’t have to redo these floors in my lifetime. For the next ten to fifteen years, they’ll look great. My wife will smile when she sees them tomorrow. I’m smiling now because I’m done.
Now it’s not every day you’re happy to be a homeowner. Somedays though, it’s pretty sweet. Even more so, when you’ve finished a big project and can sit back in your black leather recliner and relax at the end of the day.
One of my favorite YA novelists is Avi. I first came upon his books when I trying to write a book myself. I searched the card catalog online and saw his book A Beginning, a Muddle, and an End: the Right Way to Write Writing. It was the subtitle that got me; the right way to writing. Little did I know when I first grabbed this book off the shelf, that I had stumbled upon an amazing author. Avi has won several awards for his books but these two were something different. He writes mostly books on serious subjects but these were just my type of sense of humor.
Avon the snail and Edward the ant are out for adventure. And adventure, he has heard, is the key to a happy life. So with his new friend Edward the ant, Avon sets out on a journey to find the excitement his life has been missing. It’s filled with play on words jokes. Take a quick look at the End of the Beginning.
These books are flat out hilarious. I read them to the kids when little and we couldn’t stop laughing.
Both are quick reads and well worth your time.
If you like that one, you’re sure to like the the Beginning, the Muddle and the End.
Got a lump in my throat watching this one… one incredible young woman… fortitude indeed…
Kindness 101 with Steve Hartman about Fortitude
Old age is starting to creep in. Yes, I guess it’s inevitable. I find it in so many ways over the past few years with my running, grunting every time I bend over and seeing that several pair of my work pants have shrunk like crazy since Covid began.
I’ll give another quick example of a slipping mind.
I read quite a bit. I used to track my books but that’s fallen along the wayside like lots of things I used to do. In years past, I could read fifty plus books on average. Now that’s I’m older, I mainly read when I go to bed and usually fall asleep within fifteen minutes. It does not make it easy to finish books that way. When I see a highly recommended book lately, I check the thickness of the book. If it’s more than three hundred and fifty pages, I pass, no matter how good it’s supposed to be. I’ll get about a hundred pages in and I get that email from the library saying your book is due in three days. You can’t renew it because it’s such a great book, everyone and his cousin want to read it.
A good friend of mine recommended a great book for me to read. I actually had put it on hold months ago. When It finally came available, the book was about an inch and a half thick, over five hundred pages. I turned it right back in. But I digress.
I’ll digress a little more. When the kids were younger, we would not only read to them but I would try to find books they like. As such, I am still taking out the Young Adult books from time to time. The bonus with that is that they are also usually shorter.
Last week, I found a YA (young adult) book that looked interesting. It’s called A Place to Hang the Moon. The premise looked interesting. It’s a heartwarming story about three siblings, evacuated from London to live in the countryside, looking for a permanent home during World War II. The young kids, whose parents have died, have been taken care of by their grandmother. But then she dies too. This is followed by a mass wartime evacuation of children from London to the countryside. (Spoiler alert – The kids get a wonderful home.)
I love these kinds of books. Each night, I read chapter after chapter. Then it hits me. I’ve read this book before. I let out a quiet moan (as my lovely bride is fast asleep). Reluctantly, I put the book down.
The next night, (as I have a pile of books by my nightstand) I grabbed another one. This one is called, Walking to Vermont by Christopher Wren. He is a retired war correspondent who had promised his wife, upon retirement, that they’d move to Vermont and live a quieter life. They live in New York City. He decides that he wants to walk, at age sixty-five, the four hundred miles to their retirement home and tell the tales of his travels.
This sounded like a great read, too, as I love travel books. I started reading and it was really good. And quite familiar. Yes, you guessed it, I had read this book before. I highly recommend it but once again, I stopped reading. There are so many good books out there, I can’t re-read those that I’ve read before.
Old age. It plays tricks with your head. You know I’m going to be very careful choosing my next book. Perhaps I’ll go right to the NPR Best Books of 2021 and choose a brand-new book, hopefully making it impossible for me having read it previously.
At the very least, however, I need to go back to updating my long list of books that I’ve already read, checking it before I get out another book.
Now, where did I save that Word file list of all the books I’ve read?